Apparatus and method of converting electronic program guide information into XML

Abstract

An apparatus and method of converting electronic program guide (EPG) information into an extensible markup language (XML) format. According to the apparatus and method, it is possible to extract EPG information from a data stream, convert the extracted EPG information into an XML format, and display the EPG information designated as displayable in the XML format and to transmit the EPG information in the XML format to an external device via a network.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . An electronic program guide (EPG) information converter in a device, comprising: 
 an EPG extractor extracting EPG information from a data stream;    an EPG parser parsing the extracted EPG information;    an extensible markup language (XML) converter converting the parsed EPG information into an XML format;    an internal EPG presentation unit presenting program information to a user in response to the EPG information in the XML format; and    an XML data transmitter transmitting the EPG information in the XML format to external devices via a network.    
     
     
         2 . The converter of  claim 1 , wherein the EPG information is divided into information to be displayed to the user and information required within the device.  
     
     
         3 . The converter of  claim 2 , wherein the XML converter converts the information to be displayed to the user into the XML format.  
     
     
         4 . The converter of  claim 1 , wherein the EPG information in the XML format comprises: 
 a first container comprising time information regarding contents provided by the device; and    a second container including descriptions on the contents provided by the device.    
     
     
         5 . The converter of  claim 4 , wherein the first container comprises: 
 a first sub-container holding physical resource information regarding contents currently being broadcast; and    at least one second sub-container representing virtual channels that include current and future events that are not currently being broadcast.    
     
     
         6 . The converter of  claim 5 , wherein the first sub-container refers to the second sub-container through reference information.  
     
     
         7 . The converter of  claim 5 , wherein the second container comprises all of the descriptions of the contents related to the first and the at least one second sub-container.  
     
     
         8 . An EPG information conversion method comprising: 
 extracting EPG information from a data stream;    parsing the extracted EPG information;    converting the parsed EPG information into an XML format; and    transmitting the EPG information in an XML format to an external device across a network.    
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  further comprising displaying the EPG information in an XML format to a user of the device.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the EPG information comprises information to be displayed to a user and information required within the device, and the information to be displayed to a user is converted into the XML format.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the EPG information in the XML format comprises: 
 a first container comprising time information regarding contents provided by the device; and    a second container including descriptions on the contents provided by the device.    
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first container comprises: 
 a first sub-container holding physical resource information regarding contents that are currently being broadcasted; and    at least one second sub-container representing virtual channels that include current and future events that are not currently broadcasted.    
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the first sub-container refers to the second sub-container through reference information.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the second container comprises all of the descriptions of the contents of the first and the at least one second sub-container.  
     
     
         15 . A computer-readable recording medium recording a program to control a computer and comprising a process of: 
 extracting EPG information from a data stream;    parsing the extracted EPG information;    converting the parsed EPG information into an XML format; and    transmitting the EPG information in the XML format to an external device across a network.    
     
     
         16 . A method of utilizing EPG information, comprising: 
 extracting EPG information from a data stream;    generating a data-exchange markup language document based upon the extracted EPG information; and    utilizing the EPG information according to the generated markup language document.    
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the utilization of the EPG information comprises displaying the EPG information.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 17 , wherein the utilization further comprises transmitting the generated markup language document.  
     
     
         19 . An electronic program guide (EPG) information converter in a device, comprising: 
 an EPG extractor extracting EPG information from a data stream;    a generator generating a data-exchange markup language document by describing the extracted EPG information according to a data-exchange markup language; and    processing units utilizing the EPG information according to the generated markup language document.    
     
     
         20 . The converter of  claim 19 , wherein the generator parses the extracted EPG information and generates an extensible markup language (XML) document by describing the parsed EPG information according to the XML.  
     
     
         21 . The converter of  claim 19 , wherein the processing units display the EPG information and/or transmit the EPG information to external devices via a network, according to the generated XML document.